Wawa Details Plans for First Travel Center

Wawa (Chester Heights, Pa.) plans to open its first-ever travel center in Hope Mills, N.C., in the second quarter of 2025, C-Store Dive reports. Company officials detailed its plans for the project in a recent community meeting that was covered by the Greater Fayetteville Business Journal.

The site will cater to professional truck drivers and RV family travelers, with amenities like indoor seating and expanded parking and bathrooms, Senior Engineering Manager Ted Iobst said during the event.

This news comes more than a year after Wawa CEO Chris Gheysens said the company was looking to test the larger store type in both new and existing markets, calling them “Wawa on steroids.”

Wawa joins an increasing number of convenience retailers diving into travel centers in a bid to appeal to professional drivers, C-Store Dive notes. This Wawa, off exit 41 of Interstate 95, is slated to have a number of amenities focused on this demographic.

“For the professional driver, we will have high speed diesel offered for them to fuel,” said Iobst, according to the Greater Fayetteville Business Journal. “It will have a CAT weigh station … free tractor trailer parking and we will also merchandise for the professional driver as well.”
For travelers with RVs, the site will also have extended parking spaces that can accommodate such vehicles or those towing boats or other trailers, as well as the larger bathrooms.

This site is part of Wawa’s initial push into North Carolina. The retailer’s first store in that state, in Kill Devil Hills, held its grand opening earlier this month, and by the end of the year the company plans to have 10 locations there.